Shirley MacLaine Channels Her Bad Self in "The Last
Word"
By Skip Sheffield
What a national treasure is Shirley MacLaine. It was
fitting that she was honored at this year’s Oscars by one of Hollywood’s
hottest women, Charlize Theron.
Shirley MacLaine turns 83 on April 24. She is no longer
the hot chick who replaced Marilyn Monroe in “Irma la Douce” in 1963. MacLaine
still has a certain Elfin appeal, and she uses this to best advantage to play
the very unlikeable Harriet Lauler, founder of an advertising agency that once
bore her name. Now she is forcibly “retired.” In truth she was thrown out of
her own company because she was so unpleasant and disrespectful of everyone
around her.
The hook to this story is that Harriet is such a control
freak she wants final proof on the obituary that will eventually appear in the
local newspaper. She storms into the paper’s newsroom and confronts Anne
Sherman (Amada Seyfried), the resident obit writer. Anne is proud of her work
and would never think of misrepresenting the truth. Harriet wants a
whitewashing that depicts her as a wonderful person. In reality everyone hates
her, including her ex-husband (Philip Baker Hall) and her only daughter (Anna
Heche).
When the paper’s editor leans heavily on Anne to fulfill
Harriet’s wishes because Harriet almost single-handedly kept the paper afloat
with her advertising, Anne grits her teeth and tries to make the best of a
hopeless situation. Harriet suggests enlisting the help of a disadvantaged,
preferably minority youth as an “intern,” because it would make her look good.
She chooses feisty Brenda (AnnJewel Lee Dixon) at the community center. It’s
not hard to guess where all this is going in Stuart Ross Fink's script. Harriet
will be humbled, lessons will be learned and highjinks will ensue, including Harriet's stint as a radio disc jockey. This is not
a high water mark for Shirley MacLaine, but it is fun to see her in there
pitching. Any movie that makes reference to The Kinks as “the most underrated
band” and closes with Ray Davies “Waterloo Sunset” can’t be all bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment